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Quick Tips 2009

Use the Curriculum Resource Center to Access Supporting Instructional Materials

January 2009

Search the Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) to locate instructional materials that will supplement your lectures, readings, and texts. Full of maps, color images, diagrams, timelines, and numerous other types of visual aids, the CRC's easy to use interface will make locating supporting instructional materials a breeze.

Each handout has a persistent link, making it easy for posting on to course management software. PDFs of CRC handouts can also be saved, emailed, and printed for educational purposes. Browse by content area or search by keyword to see if the database has instructional materials that will benefit your course.

Locate Digital Images with ARTstor

February 2009

Would you like to add digital images to your class lectures and PowerPoint presentations? Then try using the nearly one million digital images available to you in ARTstor. Whether you need images of oil paintings, sculptures, portraits, photographs, community murals, architectural drawings, or botanical, zoological and anatomical illustrations, ARTstor will have something for you to use.

Search for images by keyword or browse the collection by geographic region, format, or art collection. Once you locate an image that you would like to use, double-click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image and to bring up the print and save options.

You can also link to images in ARTstor from course management software. To create persistent links to ARTstor images:

Search for Cited References in EBSCO

March 2009

Do you want to know who is citing a particular article or get an idea of how often an author is being cited? Then try using EBSCO's cited reference search. The following EBSCO databases are equipped with the cited reference search function: Academic Search Premier, America: History & Life, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, Communication & Mass Media Complete, GreenFile, Historical Abstracts, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, and SocINDEX.

Click on the "Cited References" link on the top of the page (depending on what database you are in, the "Cited Reference" link could be found under the "More" option)

Enter in the author or article title

Check the box before the desired article

Click the "Find Citing Articles" link

*Please note: the cited reference search is limited to the journals in the database you have selected. As a result, this search will not find every publication that has cited a particular source or author.

Search Google Scholar and Get Full Text through Geisel Library

April 2009

Google Scholar is becoming more and more useful for performing scholarly research. Historically, the main disadvantage of using Google Scholar was the difficulty associated with locating the full text of the citations you found. Google has now made locating the full text easier by allowing users to set up a connection between Google Scholar and their institution's library.

If you are on campus, the easiest way to take advantage of this feature is to access Google Scholar off of our databases page.

If you are off campus you will need to create the connection between Google Scholar and Geisel Library's resources by adjusting your Google Scholar preferences. To set up Google Scholar Preferences:

You can now go ahead and run your search. Under most citations you will now see a link to "Geisel Library WebBridge." Click on the "Geisel Library WebBridge" link to either access the full text in our print or electronic journal collection or to place an Interlibrary Loan request.

Link to ebrary Books and Book Chapters from Sakai

September 2009

Ebrary contains electronic books from every subject area making it a great resource from which to draw supplemental course readings. Accessible from anywhere at any time, you can link to electronic books and book chapters from Sakai in a fashion similar to that of journal articles from our online journal databases.

a) To link to an entire book, copy the URL out of your browser windowb) To link to a chapter, use the Table of Contents on the left to navigate to the chapter's first page. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose "Copy Bookmark"

The guides are fairly brief (1-2 pages) and designed to be used by faculty when assigning library research-related projects or by students who want clarification or refreshment concerning one or more of these assignment topics. The most frequently consulted guide is "Preparing the Literature Review", but the others get some 'hits' on our pages too.

Here's a reminder that library guides, including these "Writer's Resources", may be added as links in your Blackboard course pages.

Find Articles on College Teaching and Pedagogy

November 2009

The establishment of the Center for Teaching Excellence has generated increased interest in exploring "best practices" in teaching methods and techniques. If you'd like to read the latest scholarly research on some aspect of college teaching, try searching the ERIC database, which can be accessed from the library's Find Databases page. You'll find articles and reports about perennial issues such as how to stimulate class discussion, develop presentation assignments, or incorporate the latest instructional technologies into your classroom.

Since ERIC covers teaching at all levels, it's important to limit your search to articles about college-level teaching only. To do so, after entering your keywords, scroll down to the search limiters. Next to Education Level, click on "Higher Education". Then run your search. In the results list, if there's no full-text link for the item you want, use WebBridge to locate the article in full text or to place an Interlibrary Loan request.

Search for Journals by Subject Area Through Journal Finder

December 2009

Not only can you use Journal Finder to find out whether or not we have access to specific journals but you can also use Journal Finder to see what journals we have access to in specific subject areas. This can help you identify available journals in specialized subfields like Ethics, Finance, and Child Development. To do so: